BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) recorded a trade surplus of 2.3 billion euros (3 billion U.S. dollars) with Canada in 2008, the 27-nation bloc's statistics bureau Eurostat said Monday.
Between 2000 and 2008, EU exports of goods to Canada grew from 21.1 billion euros to 26.1 billion euros, while EU imports from Canada rose from 19.0 billion euros to 23.8 billion euros.
As a result, the EU surplus in trade with Canada remained nearly stable, at 2.1 billion euros in 2000 and 2.3 billion euros in 2008, Eurostat said on the eve of a summit between the EU and Canada, which will take place Wednesday in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
Among the 27 EU member states, Germany was the largest exporter to Canada in 2008, accounting for 24 percent of the total. It was followed by Britain, France and Italy. Meanwhile, Britain was by far the largest importer of Canada, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and France.
In 2008, nearly two-fifths of EU exports to Canada were machinery and vehicles, while chemicals and other manufactured article each accounted for around a fifth of exports.
Machinery and vehicles made up around a quarter of imports, and crude materials and other manufactured articles each accounted for around a fifth of imports.
EU foreign ministers agreed last week to start negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement with Canada, which would go beyond current commitments under the World Trade Organization rules and reinforce the already strong bilateral trade and investment relationship.
Negotiations are expected to be officially launched at the upcoming EU-Canada summit. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.756 euro)
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